IRVINE, Calif. – April 14, 2011 — RealtyTrac® (http://www.realtytrac.com/gateway_co.asp?accnt=137300), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for the first quarter of 2011, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 681,153 U.S. properties in the first quarter, a 15 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a 27 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010. The report also shows one in every 191 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 239,795 U.S. properties in March, a 7 percent increase from the previous month but still down 35 percent from March 2010, when 367,056 homeowners received a foreclosure notice – the highest monthly total in the history of the RealtyTrac monthly report since its inception in January of 2005.

“The nation’s housing market continued to languish in the first quarter, even as foreclosure activity fell to a three-year low,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Weak demand, declining home prices and the lack of credit availability are weighing heavily on the market, which is still facing the dual threat of a looming shadow inventory of distressed properties and the probability that foreclosure activity will begin to increase again as lenders and servicers gradually work their way through the backlog of thousands of foreclosures that have been delayed due to improperly processed paperwork.”

Foreclosure Activity by TypeA total of 197,112 U.S. properties received default notices (NOD, LIS) for the first time in the first quarter, a 17 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a 35 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010. A total of 73,393 properties received default notices in March, up 16 percent from February but still down 37 percent from March 2010.

Foreclosure auctions (NTS, NFS) were scheduled for the first time on a total of 268,995 U.S. properties in the first quarter, a 19 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a 27 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010. Foreclosure auctions were scheduled on 93,228 U.S. properties in March, down 4 percent from February and down 41 percent from March 2010.

Lenders foreclosed on 215,046 U.S. properties in the first quarter, a 6 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a 17 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010. In states where the non-judicial foreclosure process is primarily used, bank repossessions (REOs) increased 9 percent from the previous quarter, and March REOs increased on a monthly basis in both non-judicial and judicial foreclosure states.

Nevada, Arizona, California post top state foreclosure ratesNevada posted the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate, with one in every 35 housing units with a foreclosure filing, despite a 10 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous quarter. In March, Nevada’s foreclosure activity increased 35 percent from February after two straight monthly decreases.

Bank repossessions increased 26 percent in Arizona from February to March, helping to keep the state’s foreclosure rate second highest in the nation for the first quarter: one in every 60 Arizona housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter. The state’s first quarter foreclosure activity increased 15 percent from the fourth quarter — the second highest quarterly increase of any state — but was still down 17 percent from the first quarter of 2010.

First quarter foreclosure activity in California decreased 4 percent from the previous quarter and was down 22 percent from the first quarter of 2010, but the state still posted the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 80 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the quarter. First quarter bank repossessions in California increased 17 percent from the previous quarter, while March default notices increased 28 percent from February.

One in every 98 Utah housing units had a foreclosure filing in the first quarter, the fourth highest state foreclosure rate, and Idaho posted the fifth highest state foreclosure rate: one in every 106 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 in the first quarter were Georgia, Michigan, Florida, Colorado and Illinois.

Top foreclosure activity totalsWith 168,543 properties with a foreclosure filing, California accounted for nearly 25 percent of U.S. foreclosure activity in the first quarter.

Florida accounted for nearly 9 percent of U.S. foreclosure activity, documenting 58,322 properties with a foreclosure filing during the quarter, followed by Arizona, with 46,047 properties with foreclosure filings — nearly 7 percent of the national total.

Georgia (37,509) and Michigan (37,506) posted nearly identical numbers of properties with foreclosure filings in the first quarter, and each state accounted for 5.5 percent of the U.S. total.

Other states with foreclosure activity totals among the nation’s 10 highest in the first quarter were Texas (34,646), Illinois (33,092), Nevada (32,066), Ohio (24,697) and Colorado (13,847).

Judicial foreclosure states post substantial quarterly and annual decreasesProcessing delays continued to keep foreclosure activity artificially low — states where a judicial foreclosure process is used accounted for some of the biggest quarterly and annual decreases in the first quarter.

Florida foreclosure activity decreased 47 percent from the previous quarter and was down 62 percent from the first quarter of 2010 — although the state still posted the nation’s eighth highest foreclosure rate with one in every 152 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the first quarter.

First quarter foreclosure activity in Massachusetts decreased 46 percent from the previous quarter and was down 62 percent from the first quarter of 2010. The state’s foreclosure rate — one in every 549 housing units with a foreclosure filing — ranked No. 38 among the states.

New Jersey’s first quarter foreclosure rate of one in every 401 housing units with a foreclosure filing ranked No. 34 among the states, thanks in part to a 43 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous quarter and a 44 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010.

Connecticut first quarter foreclosure activity decreased 39 percent from the previous quarter and was down 65 percent from the first quarter of 2010. Pennsylvania first quarter foreclosure activity decreased 35 percent from the previous quarter and was down 29 percent from the first quarter of 2010.

Non-judicial foreclosure states account for 19 of top 20 metro foreclosure ratesExcept for Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., the 20 highest first quarter foreclosure rates among metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more were in states where the non-judicial foreclosure process is primarily used, and paperwork delays are less severe. Cape Coral-Fort Myers ranked No. 18, with one in every 86 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

Las Vegas continued to post the nation’s highest metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 31 housing units with a foreclosure filing. The Reno-Sparks, Nev., metro area ranked No. 8, with one in every 54 housing units with a foreclosure filing.

California cities accounted for 11 of the top 20 metro foreclosure rates, led by Modesto at No. 2 (one in every 46 housing units) and Stockton at No. 3 (one in every 47 housing units).

With one in every 48 housing units with a foreclosure filing, the Phoenix metro area ranked No. 4 and was one of two Arizona metro areas in the top 20.

Report methodologyThe RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into the RealtyTrac database during the month and quarter — broken out by type of filing. Some foreclosure filings entered into the database during a month or quarter may have been recorded in previous months or quarters. Data is collected from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. RealtyTrac’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). For the quarterly report, if more than one foreclosure document is received for a property during the quarter, only the most recent filing is counted in the report. Both the quarterly and monthly reports check if the same type of document was filed against a property previously. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state where the property is located, the report does not count the property in the current month or quarter.

Report LicenseThe RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report is the result of a proprietary evaluation of information compiled by RealtyTrac; the report and any of the information in whole or in part can only be quoted, copied, published, re-published, distributed and/or re-distributed or used in any manner if the user specifically references RealtyTrac as the source for said report and/or any of the information set forth within the report.

About RealtyTrac Inc.RealtyTrac (http://www.realtytrac.com/) is the leading online marketplace of foreclosure properties, with more than 2 million default, auction and bank-owned listings from over 2,200 U.S. counties, along with detailed property, loan and home sales data. Hosting more than 3 million unique monthly visitors, RealtyTrac provides innovative technology solutions and practical education resources to facilitate buying, selling and investing in real estate. RealtyTrac’s foreclosure data has also been used by the Federal Reserve, FBI, U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee and Banking Committee, U.S. Treasury Department, and numerous state housing and banking departments to help evaluate foreclosure trends and address policy issues related to foreclosures.

Comments

The information content in the article is really helpful to review the prices according to the region.
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CM,
Great question. There is still a backlog of about 1 million properties in our database that have started the foreclosure process but not yet finished foreclosure or stopped the foreclosure process. On top of that there are between 4 and 5 million properties where the homeowner is delinquent but the property has not yet entered the foreclosure process. So there definitely is a backlog, in part caused by the "robo-signing" controversy, which has severely restricted the capacity of lenders to foreclose at the same pace we were seeing in 2010.Posted: May 2, 2011 by: darenb

Foreclosure filings are decreasing - but are backlogs of judicial, non-judicial and REO Properties increasing?
What impact does the 'robo-signing' scandal have on your stats?Posted: May 2, 2011 by: CM

Tom, thanks for your comments. We believe we're at or close to the bottom in terms of prices, and at or near the peak in terms of foreclosure activity in most markets. That said, we believe the next couple years will look more like a plateau in terms of both home prices and foreclosure activity. Bottom line is it can be a great time to buy for buyers who have a long-term horizon for reselling the property.Posted: April 26, 2011 by: darenb

So for those who are looking for the bottom of the market, perhaps we are the bottom of the bell curve? perhaps.... wish I really had that crystal ball so I can help my buyers steal some more properties!Posted: April 22, 2011 by: Tom Truong